1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a context-based search engine that returns a set of search results based on conversations occurring over a variety of digital communication tools. The search results are contextually relevant to the specific conversation-taking place. The system can be used in an enterprise or consumer environment to enhance user experience and to enable users to easily discover and access services and assets in an enterprise, or it can be used in a consumer environment.
2. Background of the Invention
The ability to find information on a network, whether it is an open network such as the Internet, or a closed network such as an enterprise network, depends on the ability to ask the correct question and to understand the large number of responses that arise from undertaking a search. In an enterprise, there may be a tree-based structure for leading a user to the correct location of information that the user may desire to see. For example, if the user is attempting to find out information about enterprise health plans, the user may need to first go to the human services web page, then find a suitable link for benefits, find a link for health plans, and then find the health plan of interest. This type of approach requires the user to make the correct decisions along the path to end up at the correct and desired information. Often, users remain unaware of benefits, resources, and assets in an enterprise because there is no effective way to notify the user of such resources when it is clear that the user is interested.
The same type of problems are found in marketing and advertising on the Internet. In typical advertising, a company presents an ad to the largest number of consumers such as in newspapers, magazines, television, radio, billboards, etc. There is some attempt to provide targeting of a particular group by understanding the demographics of the particular mass media being used to serve the ad. For example, television ratings are broken down by, among other things, sex and age. Therefore, if a company seeks to market to young men, the company might choose to advertise in a sports milieu where the demographics favour young males. Such an approach is open loop in the sense that the company hopes for a certain demographic to be exposed to the ad but can't be sure.
It has been a goal of marketing and advertising to be able to present information to a consumer at the moment the consumer is engaging in an activity that is related to the product or when the consumer is thinking about the product category. The Internet has been able to provide this ability to some degree.
For example, when a user enters text into a search engine, an advertiser can assume that the user is interested in the subject matter of the search. If the consumer were to search for cars, for example, the search results can be served with an advertisement for cars. Marketers believe that such a consumer is more receptive to an advertisement at such times, and strive to target such consumers and serve directed ads to them at that time. Such advertisements are not mass advertisements but are sent in those situations where the context of the search term indicates an interest in a particular product or product category.